Sure enough…
Lu Xia pursed her lips and then said good-naturedly, “I think I was pretty lucky to make it into the national finals.”
But her father frowned severely. “Didn’t my friend from the Education Association give you the notes? Also, what’s going on with Huo Yao? She stood first with full marks. Why couldn’t you outdo even the likes of her?”
Lu Xia knew that her father would say that. She laughed gently and explained in a mellow voice. “I did get the notes, but my fantastic little brother gave them away to her secretly.”
Lu Ziming quickly stood up and denied her accusation hotly. “How can you blame me for your bad performance? Do I have nothing better to do than steal your notes and give them to Huo Yao? Aren’t you going too far?”
Lu Xia did not continue clarifying. Instead, she removed a courier bill from her bag and said calmly, “You sent this, right?”
“What’s this?” He Xiaoman stood up and took the courier bill from her hand. She turned her head sharply to look at Lu Ziming when she noticed he was the sender, and Huo Yao was the recipient.
A look of guilt emerged on Lu Ziming’s face subconsciously the moment he saw the courier bill, but he stubbornly denied it. “I didn’t send anything!”
Lu Xia looked at Lu Ziming disappointedly and shook her head. “Lu Ziming, I know you don’t like it that I’m your older sister, but you didn’t have to give the notes to Huo Yao. How can you disregard Dad and Mom’s feelings and embarrass them?”
The moment Lu Xia brought this up, her father’s face became even more sullen. He snatched the courier bill from He Xiaoman and turned to look at Lu Ziming. “You punk!”
Their foster daughter’s grades had been so poor that she didn’t even make it into a key high school in the county. How could she have attained full marks in the National Quiz Contest? Now, this explained it all.
Lu Ziming was so startled that he became speechless when he saw how angry his father was.
Their father pressed his forehead and roared loudly. “Do you know how hard I worked to help your sister get these notes? How could you do that? Are you stupid or something?”
He Xiaoman was worried that her husband would hit their son, so she hurriedly stood in front of Lu Ziming and said, “He made a silly mistake…”
“Xue said he would help Xiaxia find a master when she went to the capital for the nationals. Look at what has happened now. She is ranked last on the list. How can she find herself a master with this score?”
He was at a loss for words due to anger.
There were many powerful families in the capital, and all of them were much more powerful than the Lu family. If they managed to get connected to even one of them, the Lu family’s status in City S would rise to a whole new level.
Hence, Lu Xia’s father had racked his brains to help pave the way.
He Xiaoman’s face sank while her brain kept buzzing. She did not know what to say.
Lu Xia looked at these parents of hers who only cared about their reputation and interests. She said calmly, “If you have nothing else to say to me, then I’m going to my room.”
Her father looked at Lu Xia but did not say anything in the end.
***
The next day.
Shortly after Huo Yao entered the class, Yi Lianfan turned up at the back door. Since Huo Yao was seated in the last row, he walked right in even though he didn’t belong to this classroom.
“Do you have the answer?”
Huo Yao glanced at him expressionlessly. She removed a book from her bag and said, “Don’t give me any more science questions and ask me to solve them. I am an arts student now.”
Then she impatiently pulled out a piece of paper from the book, with the solution written on it.
